


forgiveness

by ghibliterritory



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Battle of Hogwarts, Oliver Wood gets angry, Past Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood - Freeform, Percy Weasley is full of regret, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Protective Oliver Wood, takes place during the time allowed to collect the dead and right after the battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:20:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21772000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghibliterritory/pseuds/ghibliterritory
Summary: Oliver Wood had never been an easy to upset person
Relationships: Fred Weasley & George Weasley & Oliver Wood
Kudos: 14





	forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> when your ex boyfriend acts a fool #relatable content

Oliver had never been more tense in his whole life.

In his defense, how else could he feel in the moment? This was the first and possibly only break that anyone had gotten since the fight began. He'd just fought against too many Death Eaters to count, and survived by pure luck. He had watched countless bodies fall, he had carried them just moments before to a better resting place- at least somewhere better than the ground.

Remembering that only made him go more tense. It was unbearable, sitting still and waiting for the battle to begin again. The noise of everyone in the Great Hall around him was slowly driving him a little nuts. He didn't know what to do. He had offered as much help as he could, there were so many people who needed it now. But things were quiet. Nothing more could be done, except be ready to fight. Oliver didn't know if he was or not.

The doors of the Great Hall had been open all day, but it was almost like they had been slammed open again when Oliver saw George Weasley come in. The bandages he'd first seen him in were discarded, but he still looked miserable. Not that Oliver could blame him at all. How else was someone supposed to feel when they lost their other half the way George had? If Oliver were in his shoes, he'd have jumped from the fuckin' bridge by then, and not bothered going about the rest of the fight. Well, that wasn't all true, he'd fight. But the urge to forget it all would have been harder to ignore.

Oliver almost made a motion towards George to come over, wanting to check on him. They hadn't talked a lot since the battle started, but they'd always been pretty close, keeping up after school had ended. Something made him pause, though. That something was the sight of Percy Weasley.

Percy Weasley. In his year, already balding, weasel looking Percy Weasley.

The tenseness only grew in Oliver's body at seeing him. His chest swelled. He remembered all of the statements Percy had made since he joined the Ministry. He remembered writing back and forth with the twins about how mad they had been, how heartbroken their mother was when he decided to leave. Oliver hadn't been as tight knit with the Weasleys as Potter had, he didn't go to their holiday celebrations or know all of them by name. But he respected them. He loved his friends. And for a time, he loved Percy, finding everything about him perfect in the past. But all of that turned into hate the moment he stepped foot inside.

And Oliver had never really been an angry person.

Before he could realize what he was doing, he stood up and started to walk towards them. His legs were tense. His hands shook. His vision was tinted red. Oliver could barely see anyone outside of Percy, not caring how solemn he looked as well. When he got close, George turned to see him first, barely getting a chance to open his mouth before Percy turned and, in that same second, got punched square in the nose by Oliver.

Percy fell backwards onto his ass, holding his nose tentatively. Oliver stood over him, breath heaving. The Great Hall seemed quieter.

"You _rat_." He spat out, clenching his fists. Percy looked up at him. George went white. Oliver didn't care. "You fucking _pitiful excuse_ of a wizard."

"I did what I had to, Wood." Percy's tone was cold as he moved his hand away from his nose. Blood trickled out. He stood up, hiding himself a bit behind George's shoulder. Oliver scoffed. "Did what you had to. You _had_ to side with the Ministry. You _had_ to shove your head up your own ass to save your own skin, you _had_ to leave your family in the dust to be the perfect assistant? Those were all things you had to do, is that it?"

Percy opened his mouth to spit back at him, but stopped. Oliver continued. "You are a coward, Percy. You didn't have to shut up and kiss the ass of the Ministry when Harry told us Voldemort was back, you didn't have to _slander_ him and Dumbledore, you didn't have to put your reputation over your own goddamned morals, but you did!" He tried not to throw another punch at that, barely managing to before George reached out to put a hand on his chest.

"Oliver, relax." He murmured. It was the quietest George Weasley had ever been. "He apologized. He knows he fucked up royally."

Oliver looked up at him, relaxing a bit. Not much. His eyes went back to Percy, who's nose was still bleeding. He scowled. "I'm glad you've forgiven him, George." He said, looking at his friend again. "That's the most important thing. But I'm not sure I can. Not for any of it."

With that, Oliver turned and left the Great Hall, fuming. Maybe it was selfish of him to act like that, and he'd apologize to George for it later - he shouldn't have had to deal with that. But for the moment, he didn't care. He would have strangled Percy if he weren't fighting on their side and they needed the support. He went off to the courtyard, eyes trained of the cloud covered sun, until the battle picked up again.

❁❁❁❁

It was the biggest relief of his life when the battle finally ended.

There hadn't been much cheering or real celebration since it had wrapped up, but the sun was shining through the clouds. Everyone looked at ease, or at least as at ease as they could manage. Oliver felt tense still, but it wasn't as bad now.

He sat on a pile of rubble, wiping sweat from his face. The sun, while nice to say, had been beating down on him for a while now. He didn't have any energy to move, which sucked as well. He groaned softly to himself, taking his hand away from his face, and suddenly he wished he hadn't.

In front of him stood Percy, with specks of dried blood resting on his upper lip. He stared at Oliver a bit, shifting as he stood. Oliver scowled at him. He was still rather angry at Percy for all the shit he pulled, but he had relaxed considerably since then. "Well?" He finally spoke up after a minute of staring between them. "What do you want, Weasley?"

Percy looked ridiculous in that moment, opening up his mouth to get defensive and snotty as was pure instinct for him, but he stopped himself. He put his hands behind his back like a disgraced child. "Did you really have to punch me?" "Yes, I did." Oliver spat, standing up. Percy flinched, and for a second, Oliver felt bad. He relaxed. "Your family's forgiven you, which is all well and good, but you did a lot more than hurt them. You might as well have written every article about Harry and Dumbledore, you might as well have _supported_ all of the shit that Voldemort has done."

"I know I did, Oliver." Percy said harshly. He wasn't puttering around. "I know I did all of that, I'm not proud." He explained. Oliver folded his arms over his chest. Another beat of silence passed and neither of them said anything. Percy looked at Oliver expectantly, but Oliver shot a similar look right back at him, raising his brow. Percy deflated. "I'm... Sorry. Oliver. I'm sorry. That's all I can do right now to make up for it, and I know that's not enough. But I don't want to leave here without knowing you don't hate me."

At this, Oliver bit his lip some, mulling it over. He didn't want to jump on the apology just yet, for good or bad. Percy sighed. "I know... we split off before. But I still think of you as my friend." That really made Oliver pause. He looked Percy right in the eyes, and he could see he was genuine. He did feel bad about it. He wanted to mend something. Oliver sighed through his nose and let his arms relax.

"Alright, alright, Percy... I forgive you." He said, sitting down on the rubble again. After a second of standing awkwardly, Percy sat down next to him, wringing his hands a bit. "But you better get right on making it up not just to your family or to me, but to the rest of us here." "Right, of course." Percy agreed. They sat in silence next to each other, watching the chaos around them as it was finally settled. Minutes passed by like hours. Eventually, Oliver looked over at him from the corner of his eye and bit back a smirk. "And, I'm sorry for clockin' ya."

A gentle laugh slipped out of Percy's mouth, and he went up to carefully touch his nose. "I guess I deserved at least that for everything." He muttered, furrowing his brow. "You can really through a mean one, though, Wood."

Oliver laughed softly in return. "I was Quidditch captain for a reason, wasn't I?" Percy nodded, and they went right back to staring. The silence wasn't as long that time. Percy shrugged his coat off and put it in his lap. "...We're hosting a small celebration at the Burrow." He mentioned, eyes straight ahead. "Would you like to join us? Get to know the family?" Percy asked. Oliver hummed, taking a quick look at him to see him smiling a bit. He couldn't help but smile back.

"I'd love to."


End file.
